Installation Software Products Supported by Add-in Express

Visual Studio Installer in VS 2010, 2013 and 2015. This tool is built in VS 2010. For VS 2013, you need to install
this extension; for VS 2015, see
here.
There's no such extension for VS 2012.

InstallShield in VS 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015. Supported are the Professional edition and higher; the Limited and Express editions are not supported.
Make sure that the edition that you install gets listed on the About dialog window (see menu Help | About in the IDE).

WiX (Windows Installer XML) Toolset in VS 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015. Make sure that the WiX version that you install gets listed on the
About dialog window (see menu Help | About in the IDE).

Add-in Express doesn’t directly support installation software products that don't integrate with the Visual Studio IDE.
To deploy an add-in using such an installation software product, you need to "translate" instructions we publish in
Creating a Visual Studio Installer setup project manually to the "language" of the product.
A "translated" instruction is available for Advanced Installer; see
here.

Creating a setup project using Setup Project Wizard

To help you create an installer for your Office plug-in, Add-in Express provides the setup project wizard
accessible via menu Project | Create Setup Project in Visual Studio. Another way to run the wizard is shown in the screenshot.

Also, the following custom actions are created for your setup project. They will be performed on the end-user's machine
to register your add-in after installation and unregister it before uninstallation:

You can create a Visual Studio Installer setup project manually; follow the steps below. To manually create a setup project for any other installation software product,
you need to "translate" the steps below to the "language" of the product that you use.

Note that you can check all the below-mentioned settings if you create a setup project using the setup project wizard.

Add a new setup project

Right-click the solution item and choose Add | New Project.

In the Add New Project dialog box, select the Setup Project item and click OK.

This adds a new setup project to your solution.

File system editor

Right-click the setup project item and choose View | File System in the context menu.

Application folder \ Default location

Select the Application Folder item and specify its DefaultLocation property as follows:

If the RegisterForAllUsers property of the module is true, set DefaultLocation = [ProgramFilesFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName]

If the RegisterForAllUsers property of the module is false or, if you deploy a smart tag or Excel UDF, set DefaultLocation =
[AppDataFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName]

Select AddinExpress.MSO.2005.tlb (or AddinExpress.MSO.2003.tlb in Visual Studio 2003) and, in the Properties window, set the Exclude
property to True. If you use version-neutral interops, exclude the VB6EXT.OLB file in the same way.

Always exclude all .TLB and .OLB files from the setup project except for .TLBs that you create yourself.

Project-depended resources

Now you add all resources (e.g. assemblies, dlls or any resources) required for your project.

Add-in Express Loader and manifest

Add the adxloader.dll and adxloader.dll.manifest files from the 'Loader' subfolder of the add-in project directory to the
'Application Folder' of the setup project.

Note. For an XLL add-in, the loader names include the assembly name, say, adxloader.MyXLLAddin1.dll.

Custom actions editor

Add custom actions

Add new custom actions to the Install, Rollback, Uninstall sections of your setup project. Use adxregistrator.exe
as an item for the custom actions.

Custom actions arguments

Add the strings below to the Arguments properties of the following custom actions:

Install

/install="{assembly name}.dll" /privileges={user OR admin}

Rollback

/uninstall="{assembly name}.dll" /privileges={user OR admin}

Unistall

/uninstall="{assembly name}.dll" /privileges={user OR admin}

If a COM add-in or RTD server is installed on the per-user basis, or if you deploy a smart tag or an Excel UDF, the value of
the privileges argument above is user. If a COM add-in or RTD server is installed on the per-machine basis, in other words, if
the RegisterForAllUsers property of the corresponding module is true, the value of the privileges argument above is admin.

Launch conditions

Make sure that the .NET Framework launch condition specifies a correct .NET Framework version and correct download URL.
Note that we recommend using launch conditions rather than prerequisites because installing a prerequisite usually requires
administrative permissions and in this way installing a per-user Office extension may result in installing the extension for
the administrator, but not for the user who ran the installer.

Prerequisites

Right-click the setup project and open the Properties dialog.

If administrative permissions are required to install prerequisites, then for a per-user Office extension, the elevation
dialog will be shown on UAC-enabled systems. If the administrator's credentials are entered in this situation, then the installer
will be run on behalf of the administrator and therefore, the Office extension will be installed for the administrator, not for
the user who originally ran the installer.

Final touch

Rebuild the setup project. Specify the following command line in the PostBuildEvent property of the setup project:

If the RegisterForAllUsersProperty of the module is false or if that property is missing:

{Add-in Express}\Bin\adxPatch.exe %BuiltOuputPath% /UAC=Off

If the RegisterForAllUsersProperty of the module is true:

{Add-in Express}\Bin\adxPatch.exe %BuiltOuputPath% /UAC=On

The executable – adxPatch.exe – also provides the /RunActionsAsInvoker parameter. If set to true (default),
it specifies that adxRegistrator.exe used as a custom action will be run with the privileges of the user who launches the installer.

Now build the setup project, copy all setup files to the target PC and run the .msi file to install the add-in. However,
to install prerequisites, you will need to run setup.exe.

This technology is now available for our custom development services only. Based on the Add-in Express for Office core, it is designed for building custom-tailored Office add-ins with far less coding than you usually have to do. Plus, it includes all Add-in Express features such as True RAD, visual designers, Outlook view and form regions, etc.

Get the best platform for building version-neutral, fast and easy deployable plug-ins by using Add-in Express projects templates, visual designers, components and wizards in combination with a perfect Delphi compiler.

This is an extension for Visual Studio that allows developers to quickly create WiX-based setup projects in a familiar Visual Studio way.

The Designer for WiX Toolset lets you forget the plain Windows Installer XML and concentrate on your deployment logic. It integrates several editors with the Visual Studio IDE and provides a set of vdproj designers to configure the file system, registry, user interface, custom actions, launch conditions and more for your setup projects.

The innovative technology for customizing Outlook views and forms. It is included in all Add-in Express for Office products and can be used to extend Outlook views, e-mail, task and appointment windows, To-Do bar, Reading and Navigation panes with your own custom sub-panes.

Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in
the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.